A rain barrel without gutters

Water is a precious resource in desert environments. Some desert creatures have adapted to live without drinking a single drop of water; some plant seeds can lie dormant for many years until the water they need for germination is available; but humans and most of our food crops depend on a regular supply of water to survive.

Some of the indigenous people of the El Paso area relied upon water that was stored in the natural rock basins in what is now Hueco Tanks State Historic Site. In modern times, some have adopted this practice through the use of rain barrels. In the desert we are fortunate that the majority of our rainfall comes during the hottest time of the year when plants most need moisture. By collecting rainwater and using it for irrigation, we can have a larger or more lush garden without the use of municipal water sources.

In our case, we do not have rain gutters, and I am not prepared to install them. There are, however, other water sources that can be collected and reused. Our house is cooled using evaporative cooling. This system draws outside air across a moistened medium which can cool the air by up to 20 degrees F. To reduce algae and mineral build up these units must be flushed periodically. The unit on my house is flushed with 15 gallons of water for every 6 hours of continuous operation. Last year I used a hose to direct this water to different areas of the landscape. This year I have decided to collect the runoff in a rain barrel and install a gravity-fed drip irrigation system from the rain barrel that will water the new vegetable garden and other food crops. Let's hope we can keep this cucumber and all its buddies happy, without using any additional city water.